Antimicrobial nanomaterials in the food industry (original) (raw)

The massive industrial production and application of engineered nanomaterials ENMs currently and the predicted increase in the near future may result in their appearance in various environments, yielding the possibility of human exposure to these ENMs through inhalation, dermal contact, or ingestion (Martirosyan, Schneider, 2014). The amount of released of ENMs into the environment cannot be accurately estimated due to the speed of production, lack of knowledge on the amount of ENMs applied and released from various applications and products. Due to high-volume production of consumer products containing ENMs, such as nanoparticles (NPs) of silver, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, silica, etc ., human exposure to these artificial NPs is possible directly (via personal healthcare products, cosmetics, food, water, drinking, drugs and drug delivery system) and/or indirectly, e .g ., through the release of these compounds into the environment (